Finish this! I want to read more!

You shoulda seen the Itaewon in the '60s! (Oh, Lord, do I suddenly feel old!)

Not quite EVERYTHING was available there, but it was clear that even with the ongoing curfew, Pak Chong-Hee as president for life, and no passports to The Outer World, Korea was catching that rasty American spark, much more quickly and much more boisterously energetically than Japan ever has...

Koreans have learned how to use the 'two pillars upholding the canopy of Justice: reward and punishment' which are, alongside risk-taking and courage and hard work and responsibility, key portions of democracy-whisky-sexy which FUNCTION as advertised, in the Real World.

Koreans have a phrase that they'd use on Koreans who'd never gotten out of Korea back then, and the ones who used it had usually been out, worked, looked and come back... "Frog in a well", they called their stay-home brothers. "You look around you, think that Korea is the world, you know what life is all about, but you're terribly limited in everything except your own arrogance! You're little more than a Frog in a Well!"

But by 1990, I can surmise that Well-bound Koreans were getting a serious nose-full of the scent of freedom and capitalism, and that would have made Itaewon a great place to visit, for sure.

More, Greyhawk, we're waiting for more eye openers!

Korea...was there from '97-'02 and also for 3 weeks in 85, I think. quite a bit had changed. Stationed at Osan working on the U-2 this time, tdy working on the AC-130 in '85. I remember trying to do a stray voltage check on the ALE-40 in full chem gear just to see if I could. I could, but it was very unpleasant, even in February. The differences...gone are the 20$ lays and cheap drinks...juicees. Not sure how much a lay costs, found a girlfriend, probably more expensive, but juicees were 10000 won when I left Osan. Probably more now since traffic was severely reduced to the bars following 9/11. I'd have to leave home an hour early to get to work on time for all the vehicle inspections. All the bars have regular toilets now, another welcome surprise. Couldn't stand the traffic, or the narrow streets, or the mopeds, except those that carried the coffee-shop girls. You could get a Guinness, in a can for 8000 won in some places in Osan. It was available on tap in a couple of places in Seoul for approximately the same price.

They play rugby in Korea, sometimes well, they're quick. Although, a friend of mine, approximately 6'4" and 280 had fun carrying them down the field on occasion, a funny sight.

You'd have the occasional protest at Osan, never a serious one, but for the most part, for a contractor, life was good there. Russian chicks were starting to take over the bar scene though, for better or worse. Not sure if that was a sign of better opportunities for young Korean women or Russian desperation...

cheers,

Dick